Tech has transformed the business community dramatically over the past decade. Long gone are the days of centralized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems that manage all of a business’ daily operations and data. Now, companies are turning to independent software vendors, one for each niche aspect of their business needs; they’re choosing Salesforce for their database needs and Eventbrite for their event management. The best part is that data from all of these independent sources is easily integrated with strong application programming interfaces (APIs).
In the for-profit world, this integration is referred to as “SMAC,” a catchy acronym that describes the parts of the integrated sum: Social Mobile Analytics and Cloud. As vendors work to combine these four technologies in new and innovative ways, SMAC has given rise to powerful solutions for all kinds of business problems, particularly those related to collecting and managing data.
via Nex-G Exuberant Solutions
However, as we noted in our predictions for the advancement office of 2015, this trend hasn’t quite caught on in the nonprofit community. While advancement professionals—including many of our customers—have shown an interest in using independent vendors like MailChimp for email campaigns and HubSpot for inbound marketing, it has not yet become an industry standard to overlay traditional CRM databases with SMAC solutions.
It’s clear, then, that the field of advancement has some catching up to do. SMAC technology can revolutionize your fundraising, providing quicker and easier ways for your entire advancement team to surface, analyze, and manage donor data. Let’s break it down:
- Social: In today’s social era, social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook are brimming with valuable information on donors and prospects. How are you capturing that data? A Social Donor Management strategy can produce incredible ROI for your social media efforts.
- Mobile: With a mobile app, data on donors and prospects is easily accessible at any time from a mobile device. About to grab lunch with a major donor? No need to be in your office or behind a desktop computer to get the information you need to prep for the big meeting.
- Analytics: With built-in analytics of your donor data, you can have immediate access to powerful insights— which can lead to increased fundraising efficiency and more successful asks.
- Cloud: With cloud-based technology, donor data is updated and stored safely without the need for an onsite database. That means you can access your data from any device no matter where you are.
The adoption of SMAC technologies will become increasingly critical to your advancement office as you begin to “think outside your database.” Learn more about our SMAC solution for boosting your fundraising efforts through Social Donor Management.